Posted by shoebox on June 19, 2004, at 20:41:29
In reply to Re: Apathy on Risperdal..Should I switch to Abilif, posted by fluffy on June 19, 2004, at 11:25:18
Ah, how familiar this story is!
My husband was on Seroquel before the Abilify and had the same apathy problems I did. His BP II is a bit more complicated than mine; he gets severely manic, so he is also taking Lithium.
If I recall (and it is getting harder all the time, since we mix 'n' match drugs so often), he was on Neurontin and Klonopin and Lithium. Our pdoc wanted him off the Klonopin, since he was pretty sure it was preventing the depression from lifting, so he prescribed the antipsychotics to ease out of that and the Neurontin, which he felt wasn't doing a whole hell of a lot anyway.
The Seroquel made him happy/dopey, so after he'd made the transition away from Klonopin, the pdoc looked for a better option. Abilify had literally come out that week. I suspect that it is not as effective against anxiety as the others, as that is what seemed to be the trouble--all he said was, "This stuff isn't working, this stuff isn't working..." and he became panicked that he'd have to go back on Klonopin "forever". He'd been on Risperdal and Zyprexa during a brief hospitalization (both drugs made him HUGE) and they were great for the time, but the real world and the hospital hardly compare. After the Abilify "experiment" he tried Geodon (he always copies me!) and had a similar result--no help for the anxiety.
I've been on Lamictal for about three years, and it was only recently that I hit the Lamictal/Prozac "winning combo" I am on. The Lamictal is an effective mood stabilizer, but not as great for depression as it's purported to be. *BUT* combining it with Prozac has proven to be the magic formula. I am primarily depressive, but all the time I was being prescribed SSRIs etc. nobody noticed I was actually Bipolar, so I always got in hot water eventually. I am a mostly depressed/occasionally manic BPII, so it makes sense that a high dosage of Prozac (80mg) combined with a medium-weight mood stabilizer has finally worked. "Finally." Yeah, right. ;^S
My husband (who continues to copy me) is now on Lithium, Prozac and Lamictal--no anxiety drugs at all--and his depression has lifted after years of drug-hopping. None of his docs ever thought to take away the benzos, and I always suspected they were part of the problem. I'm starting to think benzos are evil things prescribed by horror-movie doctors who never want you to get well! ;^)
If the anxiety is what's being treated by the Risperdal and you switch to Abilify...well, everybody's different, of course, but my husband was not impressed. I don't know what you could tweak the Risperdal with--Provigil?--to zotz yourself back to life. One cautionary note: My husband used to take Adderall and I insisted that it was not helping him that much and was only making him agitated. He was off it for over a year. He recently went back on it to help him shed some Seroquel weight and feel "sharper", and within three days he was a monster. Sometimes it takes way too long to identify which drugs are helping with what symptom, and in what combination with whatever else, but at least we know for certain: No Adderall! Add that to the ever-expanding list...
poster:shoebox
thread:357773
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040614/msgs/358193.html